Town of Charlotte
Board of Selectmen
Minutes
Monday, December 22,
2003
7:00 PM, Charlotte Town
Hall
Paul
Arthaud
Jennifer Steele Cole
Eleanor Russell
Francis Thornton
OTHERS: Dean
Bloch (Select board Assistant)
Peter
Carreiso
Peter Coleman
Chris Davis
Josh Flore
Sylvia Knight
Lou Lanzarotti
Matt Maynard
Mary Mead
John Owen
Debbie Ramsdell
Robin Reid
Dick St. George
Eric Van Vlandren
Bob Wright
Jocelyn
Bolick (clerk)
The meeting was called to order at 7:00
pm.
The items on the agenda were as
follows:
Adjustment
to Agenda / Approve Minutes for December 8, 2003 / Public Discussion / Town
Clerk Budget FY2005 / Charlotte Fire & Rescue: Discussion-Approval of
Vendor for Fire Truck; Discussion-Approval of Note for Fire Truck; Report on
Rescue License; Paid Staff Position / Interview Planning Commission Candidates
/ Recreation Commission Budget FY2005 / VELCO Project: Accept Petition from
Lynrick Acres Neighborhood; Decision on Submission of Herbicide Report; Accept
Contract for Expert Witness; Pre-file Testimony / Appointment to the Zoning
Board of Adjustment / Burns Committee Vacancies / POW-WOW update / Bills and
Warrants / Adjournment
Adjustment to Agenda
·
None.
Approve Minutes for November 24, 2003
and December 8, 2003
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To approve the select board
meeting minutes with corrections for November 24th”.
Vote: 4 in
favor, Paul Arthaud abstained (he was absent).
On page 2, under Christmas Party,
change “They would need to identify …” to “The select board would need to
identify …”.
On page 2, under Town Report, change
“Ellie volunteered to write the town report …” to “Ellie volunteered to write
the select board report …”.
On page 4, under Chris Boffa, change
“…because of jurisdiction on the property …” to “…because of Act 250
jurisdiction on the property …”.
On page 5, under Senior Center,
change “Larry said …” to “Wally said …”.
On page 6, under Library, change “…to
replace taxes or to pay personnel. “ to
“…to replace acquisitions or to pay personnel.”.
On page 7, under Road Commissioner,
change reference to “Loop Road” to “Root Road”.
On page 10, under VELCO’s
Transmissions Line Project, change “Jennie said there are lots of different
opinions.” to “Jennie said that VELCO has offered to do shorter single poles.”
Motion made
by Jennifer Cole, seconded by Eleanor Russell:
“To approve the select board
meeting minutes with corrections for December 8th”.
Vote: 3 in
favor, Francis Thornton and Paul Arthaud abstained (they were absent).
Throughout the document, change
reference to “Sharon Balehan” to “Sharron Balaban”.
On page 3, under Public Discussion,
change “Dave Marshall found some more water.” to “Dave Marshall found some more
soil suitable for septic.”
On page 4, under Peter Coleman POW
WOW, change “Cher Heidelberg” to “Cher Feitelberg”.
On page 7,
under Fire and Rescue, put “super secret funds” in quotes and italics.
·
Ellie
Russell wanted to publicly thank Debbie Ramsdell for planning the Christmas
party. Good job!
Appointment to the Zoning Board of
Adjustment
Motion made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To go into executive
session to discuss the appointment to the Zoning Board of Adjustment”.
Vote: all in favor.
Motion made by Paul Arthaud, seconded by Eleanor Russell:
“To come out of executive
session”.
Vote: all in favor.
Motion made by Paul Arthaud, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To appoint Frank
Tenney to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the remainder of Harley Allen’s
term”.
Vote: 4 in favor, 1
opposed (Ellie Russell).
Town Clerk Budget FY2005
Mary Mead
came to talk about the budget for the town clerks office. After a cursory review of the budget, the
select board did not see any issues.
Charlotte Fire & Rescue
·
Discussion/Approval of Vendor for
Fire Truck. Dick St. George said they received 3
bona fide bidders with bid bonds; at a later date they received an email bid
from another company, but CVFRS could not get that company to follow up with
CVFRS. The 3 valid bids ranged from
$375,000 to $427,000. The low bidder
had many items missing. CVFRS asked
them a few questions, but they haven’t responded. That left 2 bidders who were both here last week. CVFRS believes Seagrave Manufacturing of
Clintonville, Wisconsin, was giving better value for the money; their price was
a few thousand dollars cheaper. Sutton
was offering an aluminum cab, Seagrave has a steel cab. The proposal is at $402,073. They are working on the changes that the
select board recommended.
Paul Arthaud was appointed as the liaison from the select
board to CVFRS. CVFRS located a number
of people including Mike Gill, and Mike O’Neill from the Burlington Fire &
Rescue. They offered suggestions which
were implemented and looked at carefully.
Paul feels the quote is completely acceptable.
Dick said there is a program through Seagrave Manufacturing where
you get a 4 ½% interest rate on pre-payment of the money. Mary believes it is over and above what she
would pay on the anticipation note. It
will realize a variable savings depending on the length of time it takes to
deliver the apparatus. If it takes 7
months for the truck to be manufactured, it will result in a $7,000 to $8,000
discount. At an 80% pre-pay, that
averages out to almost $40/day. Mary
still has to shop her quotes, but it is a substantial discount. The performance bond protects the town in
case something happens to Seagrave Manufacturing in those 7 months. They are the longest performing manufacturer
in the country, formed in 1881.
The latest reference check that Dick made was East Hartford,
CT. The only complaint that they had on
their trucks is that they rode rough.
Their last 4 have been Seagraves, also. At some point this week, East
Hartford will be signing for a new Seagrave pumper.
Charlie said one of the changes the select board would like
is that the contract is between the town of Charlotte and Seagrave, not
CVFRS. There will also be changes in
the net payment, cash upon delivery and acceptance.
Discussion/Approval of
Note for Fire Truck.
Motion made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Francis
Thornton:
“To approve the
contract between the town of Charlotte and Seagrave Fire Apparatus to purchase
a fire truck pumper at $402,073 and that we authorize Charles Russell to sign
the contract after it has been reviewed by the attorney.”.
Vote: all in favor.
Ellie stated for the record that the total price, including
equipment, is not to exceed $440,000.
It’s not $450,000 (which was the price on the bond) because the thermal
imaging camera has already been purchased.
Mary said she needs to know the dates when she shops for the
note. She needs to know the date when
they need the money.
Peter Coleman asked if the contract is available for public
scrutiny. Paul said it would be after
all the revisions are complete.
·
Report on Rescue License. Paul Arthaud said Charlotte Rescue has a conditional license
due to staffing issues. Charlotte
Rescue did not appeal that decision.
They have since had a new election and have been working on remedial
issues 24/7. They have been out of
service 12 to 15 hours since the election (Marta is the new chief; Paul Arthaud
is the new assistant chief). They need
to provide the service logs to the licensing authorities.
Eric said they have to prove that they are in service 95% of
the time over any given period. Paul
said they can get paid people once in a while, but there’s a problem in keeping
them. Eric said they have recently
hired 3 per diem people. It’s a
challenge to keep a steady stream of highly-trained people.
Paul said they need to research the legality for a private
entity to move its employees to the town.
Do the employees get hired by the town or CVFRS or FRS?
Paul said people are coming back; Eric said 2 people have
rescinded their resignations.
Eric said they have a license until January, 2005 – the
conditional license is for the first 3 months of 2004. At the end of March, they will be re-evaluated
and either the conditional license extended or the original license reinstated.
Eric said the word “conditional” does
not in any way change the type of care or response the public would get. Everything is still done exactly the same
way.
Josh Flore wanted to take the opportunity to thank Eric and
the rescue squad. They came to his
house last week to help with a potentially serious situation with Josh’s
daughter.
·
Paid Staff Position. Ellie said the intent would be to have a regular person who
would take care of the paperwork and the human resource issues that need to be
dealt with when you start hiring people.
The advantage would be to take it off the volunteer staff and to develop
some continuity over time. Eric said
they would be putting together a written proposal.
The idea was discussed to have Mary Mead pay the bills, but
Eric wanted to backpedal a bit on this.
The HIPAA act guarantees patient confidentiality, and they need to
figure out how to be able to flow the bills with patients names attached
through Mary. This needs to be looked
at more closely. HIPAA stands for
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Peter Coleman asked who goes on a call. Paul said there is a crew chief that controls
the call and the driver. To be a legal
crew, there has to be at least 2 certified people on the drive – one of them
has to be a crew chief. Ideally, there
should be a driver and 2 EMT’s. Peter
asked why someone would volunteer when they could be paid. Paul said they are giving extra
responsibilities to the paid person, and they are making a conscious decision
that volunteers are members, paid personnel are not members.
Chris said they call it a “comb-v” department – combination department
of volunteers and paid personnel. And
there are issues associated with this combination.
Paul Arthaud left the meeting to return to his sick
children.
Interview Planning Commission
Candidates
John Owen is
applying for the Planning Commission vacancy.
Ellie asked why he is interested in the Planning Commission. John said he has always been interested in
affordable housing. To work effectively
in that genre, you need to be able to work with the Planning Commission. He feels you need to do something to keep
the community diverse; otherwise you are just going to get people who can
afford large lots.
He feels you
need to look at the options; you have to plan for them. Francis said one of the biggest problems in
town is we don’t have water or sewage.
John said that drives up the cost of land.
Ellie asked
how Charlotte should look 40 years from now.
John would like to see planned communities – clustered houses, village
centers and open spaces. Charlie asked
if you would put the house in the woods or in the meadow, and where would the
driveway go. John said it would make
sense to blend it into the existing neighborhood – what are the other houses
nearby doing? He feels it just depends
on the situation.
Ellie asked
about trail easements on properties.
John said he likes the idea if the owners are accepting of it. Francis feels you should not use planning to
hijack trail easements out of people.
Lou Lanzarotti
said that 5 acre zoning is the most wonderful thing about Charlotte. John said the problem arises when farms come
up for sale. Do you have 5 acre
lots? Or do you have 5 houses clustered
on 5 acres, with 20 acres open?
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To appoint John Owen to the Planning
Commission”.
Vote: 3 in
favor, Francis Thornton abstained; Paul Arthaud had left the meeting.
Peter
Coleman said the town of Charlotte defeated a nuclear power plant in the 50’s
and 60’s, they refused a huge financial gift to extend Shelburne water into
Charlotte (and eliminated a huge pressure to grow), and adopted 5 acre
zoning. He feels those 3 reasons are
why Charlotte is the way it is today.
Jennie said
the 5 acre zoning is somewhat exclusionary if there are no allowances for
affordable housing.
Recreation Commission Budget FY2005
Robin Reid
came to talk about the budget for the Recreation Commission. The select board reviewed the budget. Charlie and Ellie wanted to see a report on
what was spent, and income from the year for the intramural sports line
item. Charlie feels the program should
be able to pay for itself. Ellie said
they need to draw up anticipated income and anticipated expenses. Robin said the sub-committee needs to be put
on the select board agenda. She doesn’t
want the Recreation Commission dissolving because they’re all sick of the work
involved with intramural sports. That’s
why there is a sub-committee to deal with it.
Charlie said
someone has been approving the money that has been spent. The intramural sports line item needs to be
broken down further.
VELCO Project
·
Accept Petition from Lynrick Acres
Neighborhood. Sylvia Knight came to enter the
content of the petition into the select board record. The petition was signed by several residents.
Motion made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To accept this
petition from the residents of Lynrick Acres regarding VELCO’s Transmissions
Line project and submit it into the record”.
Vote: all in favor.
·
Decision on Submission of Herbicide
Report. Sylvia Knight asked that the select board submit the herbicide report to the
Public Service Board.
Sylvia said she realized last summer that no one had done a
study of the impact of the herbicides they plan on using for the
right-of-way. She made the report more
specific to Charlotte. She talked to Richard
Sedano about the submission of the report; he feels it is okay for a town to
submit the report as comment rather than pre-trial testimony. He suggested it be used as a resource for
the public hearings that are coming up in the spring.
Sylvia feels that sending it from the select board would
have more power and make a stronger statement.
The Conservation Commission will be submitting it, and Sylvia would
appreciate the select board submitting the report also. She said it also has support from members of
the VELCO committee: Linda Radimer, Erich Finley both support it.
Sylvia has credibility with VPAC (Vermont Pesticide Advisory
Council) – they give the permits for utility rights-of-ways and railroad
rights-of-ways. She convinced them to
lean on the railroad to change one of the herbicides it uses on its rights-of-way. Sylvia said no other town will be asking for
“no herbicides” on its rights-of-way.
Sylvia said the select board should file this report to
strengthen the position as to why we want alternatives used.
Jennie asked if the report is going to be submitted to
VPAC. Sylvia said she emailed it to
Doug Burnham (research assistant at VPAC) last night, and she was thinking of
sharing it with VELCO also. Francis
asked if Sylvia has a science or engineering background. Sylvia said she has a background as a
researcher. Much of the information in
the report is from the industry’s own product sheets and safety sheets. She feels it is the role of people who care
about the environment to bring this information out to the public for view.
Dean asked about VPAC.
Sylvia said the council was created in 1969 with Act 273. It’s a body of representatives from
different state agencies that meet throughout the year. They hear the permit requests from the
different groups who want to use herbicides and pesticides for various
uses. They do not make the final
decision, but they advise the agriculture commissioner.
Sylvia said the additives are not governed by the EPA, so
they get less supervision.
·
Accept Contract for Expert
Witness. Torben Aabo was hired to provide file
and pre-file testimony on the under grounding of the cable; the work has
already been completed. The select
board had previously approved spending up to $5,000, and the invoice came in at
$3380. The first few people that they
contacted realized they couldn’t do it because they would possibly be working with
VELCO at some point.
Motion made by Jennifer Cole, seconded by Eleanor Russell:
“To sign the contract
agreement between the town of Charlotte and Power Cable Consultants, Inc., for
work done to provide the testimony for the Public Service Board regarding the
Northwest Reliability Project”
Vote: all in favor.
·
Pre-file Testimony. Jennie said this testimony had to be in by last Wednesday,
and they are supposed to hear back from VELCO the week of January 5th some
information on the list of requests that was sent to them. There is some discussion on where all the
testimonies should reside so that the public can have access to them.
Burns Committee Vacancies
A committee
was made up within representatives from the Planning Commission, Conservation Commission,
Business and Economic Committee, Affordable Housing, Select Board, Recreation Commission,
and a member at large. Charlie said
they are down a member from the Planning Commission, Business and Economic
Committee, and maybe one from the Conservation Commission. Jack Clemmons is willing to be the representative
from the Business and Economic Committee.
The Planning Commission originally wanted to share the position, but
Charlie didn’t feel that would work. They
will advertise for a citizen-at-large to fill the other position.
Motion made
by Francis Thornton, seconded by Eleanor Russell:
“Appoint Jack Clemmons to the Burns Planning
Committee”.
Vote: all in favor.
POW-WOW update
Peter
Coleman asked the library people to move the town party; Alice said she could
have the town party the following weekend.
So that might alleviate much of the traffic concerns expressed at the last
meeting.
Josh Flore
said he lives 2 houses north of the Old Lantern on Greenbush Road. He feels traffic is going to be a big issue,
as is overflow parking. He wants to
know how the land will be accessed with the culverts that are there. He feels the overflow parking has the
potential to destroy the land – what if it rains?
Security is
an issue. How are we going to be
assured that, without a police department in the area, the laws of the state
will be followed? Josh doesn’t want to
worry about having his property damaged.
Noise is an
issue – he doesn’t want to listen to drums until 10 PM. He has two young children and doesn’t want
to keep his windows closed in the middle of July. He would not be opposed to the drums halting earlier in the
evening though.
Jennie asked
how much of a problem traffic control will be?
Josh said his concern is the speed of the cars – he has had people fly
by his house at 70+ MPH. Also, what if
CVFRS needs to get through? How can
those vehicles fit through? Josh feels
that if you route people through the Flea Market, you’ll need someone on Route
7 and someone in the field also. If you
utilize Greenbush Road, you’ll need someone at F-5 and Greenbush Road, and
someone down at the Old Lantern to get them in and out. But he feels the light is sufficient at
Route 7.
Ellie asked
if we should do it, or should the problems be solved. Josh said his biggest problem is the drums. He would be happy with shutting off the
drums at 9 PM. He feels hiring traffic
control is a necessity. Josh said there
is a problem with parking at the Old Brick Store. You have a problem seeing cars coming up the road. What if it is raining? Property will get torn up, people will get
stuck.
Josh said
when he lived in Hinesburg, he was notified of anything that affected his
property. He didn’t realize that
Charlotte had a website, but he found out about the POW-WOW by reading the
Charlotte newspaper.
Francis
feels it is inappropriate to the area based on its size, and Charlotte does not
have the infrastructure to support a group this size.
Dean said
that the select board only has control over the parking, not the traffic or the
noise. Peter stated they wanted to
lease the 55 acres over a two day period.
Josh said there were roughly 10 people controlling parking for the
POW-WOW at the Shelburne Museum. Charlie
asked when Peter would have a traffic plan available. Peter said sometime after New Years. The plan is to have it on the January 12th agenda. It was suggested that both a parking and
traffic plan should be ready at that date.
Peter said for
many years, the Old Lantern was used for outdoor concerts. Jennie said you will need to notify people
from the Old Brick Store to Mack’s Farm.
Dean asked
about satellite parking - perhaps busing people in or having them walk. It’s a higher expense for the people putting
on the POW-WOW, and you still need to think about access to the satellite
parking.
Bills and Warrants
“Errors and Omissions”.
The listers have one parcel (ID #00061-R818) at 818 Ferry Road, which should
have been coded as exempt, but it was not.
The letter was signed by the select board.
Other bills and warrants signed as appropriate.
Adjournment
Next meeting: Monday,
January 5th at 7 PM.
Motion made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To adjourn the select board meeting”.
Vote: all in
favor. Meeting adjourned at 10:15 PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by
Jocelyn Bolick.